Classics Dystopia Fantasy Fiction Russia Russian Literature Science Fiction

Roadside Picnic

Name: Roadside Picnic
Rating: 4.12 (85777 reviews)
Author: Arkady Strugatsky

Arkady Strugatsky January 1, 1972

4.12 85.8k Ratings

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Synopsis

Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those young rebels who are compelled, in spite of extreme danger, to venture illegally into the Zone to collect the mysterious artifacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the place and the thriving black market in the alien products. But when he and his friend Kirill go into the Zone together to pick up a “full empty,” something goes wrong. And the news he gets from his girlfriend upon his return makes it inevitable that he’ll keep going back to the Zone, again and again, until he finds the answer to all his problems.

First published in 1972, Roadside Picnic is still widely regarded as one of the greatest science fiction novels, despite the fact that it has been out of print in the United States for almost thirty years.

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